David’s Story: Day 1 / Part 5

David’s crew was trained in HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening). They were an “elite” group Special Forces unit and all it meant was they could be miles from their target (Landing Zone) when they exited their aircraft and “glide” their way in for a safe, clandestine landing.

HALO training was pretty intense. Not only did it require you to be in top physical condition, one had to be psychologically sound – which seemed a bit odd because who in their right mind would opt to exit a plane at 25,000 feet in full equipment and oxygen. A number of guys didn’t make it through the training at Fort Bragg. David had the privilege of commanding a team on this deployment that not only passed the training, they were top in their class.

This jump was from a C-130 and it was going to be quick. Their preferred “ride” was the C-130 or 141 but occasionally they found themselves jumping from UH-60s. The C-130 was dependable – it was a true work horse and it was the platform from which they made most of their jumps. This wasn’t going to be one of those high altitude jumps. They didn’t have time to “glide” as they needed to hit their target quick since the hills had eyes.

As the team did their final check, David thought of Sarah and his four year old daughter. He really loved them, though he hadn’t seen much of them. Before leaving on this deployment, Sarah informed him that she was pregnant and couldn’t deal with anymore deployments. Not only that, Jayden, their daughter, was having some health challenges – she was having pains in her hips and stomach that actually caused her to vomit; and the docs couldn’t figure it out.